Federal privacy watchdog warns federal government is collecting Canadians social media data "without any direct relation to a program or activity."

The privacy commissioner is urging the government to develop specific guidelines for the “collection, use and dissemination” of information gathered through online sources, including social media sites. The government says they are "a bit skeptical" of her concerns.

In a letter to Treasury Board President Tony Clement, interim privacy commissioner Chantal Bernier said an “increasing number” of government institutions are collecting publicly available personal information from sites like Facebook and Twitter “without any direct relation to a program or activity.”

“We are seeing evidence that personal information is being collected by government institutions from social media sites without regard for accuracy, currency and accountability,” Bernier wrote in the February letter obtained by the Star.

“Should information culled from these sites be used to make administrative decisions about individuals, it is incumbent upon government institutions to ensure the accuracy of this information; it is not at all clear that this obligation is being, or could be, met.”

Bernier’s office flagged government surveillance of social media in a January special report to Parliament, but snooping and collecting data are two different things under the Privacy Act.

The letter notes that while publicly available information can be used by the government, it cannot be collected except for a specific program or activity. The Privacy Act also requires the government to take steps to ensure the accuracy of the information gathered. It’s not known whether authorities are complying with either obligation.

Bernier’s office is calling on Treasury Board to develop specific guidelines for the “collection, use and dissemination” of information gathered through online sources, including social media sites.

On Monday, Clement said he was “a bit skeptical” of Bernier’s concerns.

“Canadians willingly put onto social media all sorts of information, so it should not be a surprise that corporations, individuals, good guys, bad guys, and governments are collecting the freely available information they put on social media sites,” Clement said.

“This is all publicly available information. People freely make that choice.”

As to the problems related to verifying information gleaned from online profiles — where users make up their relationship status, their profession, or other personal information — Clement said the government takes into account the unreliability of the data.

“We’re aware of that, so you have to take it with a grain of salt depending on what the information is used for,” Clement said.

When asked how the government is using the data, Clement said no concrete examples sprung to mind. His office responded to the Star’s follow-up later Wednesday.

“The government of Canada takes the privacy of Canadians very seriously. The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat is looking into this issue, in collaboration with the office of the privacy commissioner,” spokesperson Heather Domereckyj said in an email.

Privacy lawyer David Fraser said the information Canadians offer online could be used in a variety of ways by a variety of authorities. One of the problems for Fraser is that, in the absence of an explanation from authorities, Canadians are left with hypothetical scenarios.

“We’re talking hypotheticals in an informational vacuum,” Fraser said. “We know that they’re collecting it somehow, it’s likely going into a database somewhere, but without any hint of the purposes we’re just kind of guessing, aren’t we?”

The data was compiled anonymously by the nine companies and provided to the privacy commissioner’s office in December 2011, and released at the request of the Toronto Star and the Halifax Chronicle Herald. The data is the first public hint at the scope of co-operation between telecom companies, governments, and law enforcement agencies in Canada.

Another disclosure to the privacy commissioner from computer giant Apple revealed only 100 requests for user data between June 2010 and June 2011 from Canadian authorities. It’s not clear if that number has increased in the intervening three years, but it suggests that the bulk of co-operation comes not from computer companies, but telecoms.

The telecom industry has so far refused Bernier’s request to publicly disclose the number of requests from Canadian authorities.

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